The Youngbloods, Warner Brothers-1971

the sound: “Put your hand on your hip and let your mind roll by,” croons the vocally unequalled Jesse Colin Young as he gently persuades his eager New York crowd to join in the fun on “Sugar Babe.” Young not only sings and strums bass on the song, but also plays kazoo. Yes, you read correctly, kazoo. This, the second song on “Ride the Wind,” clocks in at a mere 2:52, by far the shortest on this flawless live album. The recording begins with the title track, which meanders for nearly 10 blissful minutes, compelling its listeners to leave their minds behind—and that’s precisely what they’ll do. By the time you hear the first few notes of “Ride the Wind,” you find yourself involuntarily relinquishing your mind to the music’s control. Banana, the band’s unkempt, guiltless, yet punctilious multi-instrumentalist, invites you into the cloud of sound that is his Wurlitzer electric piano. In the third track, “Sunlight,” Young sings of a romantic yet somewhat maternal love, while the late Joe Bauer pounds away at the hand drums. Fred Neil’s peace anthem “The Dolphin” begins the B-side and the infallible trio delivers on what is perhaps their best track. Banana’s Wurlitzer beats you senseless with a soft pillow, and Young’s angelic tenor falls right in line as you float on a wave of jazzy California psychedelia that you hope will never crash. The ever popular “Get Together” actually awakes you from your quasi-hypnosis long enough to say, “Wait, I think I’ve heard this before.” But this version is much less restrained than the original, and, within the context of the whole album, feels much more authentic. The album closes with the laid-back yet driving “Beautiful,” which is best described as what The Velvet Underground would have sounded like if they turned the lights on once in a while, took a night off from the hard stuff and smiled a little. 

the background: Jesse Colin Young, who first gained notice in the early 1960s with the folksy “Four in the Morning,” looked like the guy you could take home to mom. But when he opened his mouth, he ended up being the guy mom took home. After a couple of moderately successful solo albums in the Greenwich folk scene, Young teamed up with fellow folksinger Jerry Corbitt and formed Jesse Colin Young and The Youngbloods. Playing at local clubs and becoming the house band at one, they added bluegrass multi-instrumentalist Lowell Levinger (Banana) and jazz drummer Joe Bauer. Banana looked like he could hide his mandolin in his woolen mane and would forget to wear his shoes in the country store, but he could absolutely tear up whatever instrument he grabbed. Although record companies couldn’t seem to figure out what to do with The Youngbloods, they cut a few albums in the late ’60s and even made the top 40 with “Get Together,” albeit two years after it was released. 

the significance: Following the live album “Elephant Mountain,” “Ride the Wind” was recorded around the same time in late November 1969. Released in ’71, it almost served as a swan song for the band, which broke up in 1972 after experiencing its best days in the late ’60s. But their talent did not wane, as both Young and Banana had success as solo acts. Young released the fantastic “Song For Juli” in 1973, and Banana continued working with his band “Banana and the Bunch” and managing the Raccoon record label. Bauer also pursued a solo career and released the album “Moonset.” “Ride the Wind” is an exceptional live album that represents all that was good and innocent and fun about the ’60s. It had youth and free spirit and love before those concepts became cliché, and it served as catharsis for the decade’s tumult. So, in the words of Jesse Colin Young, “Be open eyed and open wide and ride the wind.”